Re: [OSSTEST PATCH 22/38] buster: Extend guest bootloader workaround

[Ian Jackson <ian.jackson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Julien Grall writes ("Re: [OSSTEST PATCH 22/38] buster: Extend guest bootloader 
workaround"):
> On 28/05/2020 15:53, Ian Jackson wrote:
> > It's Complicated.  There are several options, but the usual ones are:
> > 
> > 1. pygrub: Install some version of grub, which generates
> >     /boot/grub.cfg.  It doesn't matter very much which version of grub
> >     because grub.cfg is read by pygrub in dom0 and that fishes out the
> >     kernel and initrd.  Many of osstest's tests do this.
> > 
> > 2. host kernel: Simply pass the dom0 kernel *and initramfs* as the
> >     kernel image to the guest.  This works if the kernel has the right
> >     modules for the guest storage, which it can easily do.  On x86 an
> >     amd64 kernel can run an i386 userland.
> > 
> > 3. pvgrub.
> 
> Thanks for the explanation. How do you select it in the Osstest today?

I think osstest does all three (not very sure about (2).  Installs
made with the Debian xen-tools package tend to do (2) by default.
Installs made with d-i can do (2) or (3).

> > Is this the same as "EADK" ?  I'm afraid I don't follow...
> 
> Sorry, I should have been more precise. I meant that we are able to boot 
> a Arm guest using UEFI as we added support in EDK2 (I think in Xen we 
> use the term ovmf).

Right.

> When using EFI, the guest can boot exactly the same way as it would on 
> baremetal. The toolstack is just loading the firmware in the guest memory.
> 
> IIRC we have already regular EFI testing on x86 in Osstest. I am 
> thinking to extend them to Arm at some point.

Our arm64 boxes are all booting via UEFI right now.

We have to do a different bodge to load xen.efi rather than grub;
osstest makes a xen.cfg.  That bodge is extended to buster by

  Subject: [OSSTEST PATCH 34/38] buster: grub, arm64: extend
      chainloading workaround

> > Where should I do that ?  I guess I mean, in which bugtracker ?
> 
>  From the comment in the code, I would assume this is a bug/enhancement 
> against the Debian installer. But I may have misundertood it.

Oh I see.  I think amybe the problem was the lack of grub support.  Is
that all sorted in current Debian unstable/testing ?  If so it may
well all come out in the wash.

Ian.